Coat Rack from Repurposed Cabinet Door

I love a good coat rack, and making an easy coat rack out of a cabinet door is even better. How about four cabinet door coat racks? You’ll love how easy these projects are!

We had some beautiful weather last week, and I went to my cabinet door stash and grabbed several doors and got busy. It was really fun to do several projects in an assembly line sort of fashion.

I wish my stash currently looked this neat. This is a picture from the archive after I tidied my storage area. These days it is overflowing with finished projects that need to be sold. You’ve probably seen cabinet door chalkboards, and other easy cabinet door projects, but this might be my new favorite use for cabinet doors.

Materials (for large red project)

Rectangular Cabinet Door

1×4 (cut to length for your cabinet door)

thin plywood to give more thickness if your cabinet door is not thick enough for coat hook screws

Coat Hooks

D Rings

Supplies

Sandpaper

Wood Glue

Paint (red and black)

Wax (clear or back instead of black paint)

Tools

This is a very simple coat rack project even for beginners if you have the right cabinet door. This door happens to be perfect for this project. One side of the door is beveled, and the other side has a blunt cut that will easily attach to a “shelf” board.

Measure and cut to length a 1×4

See how the cabinet door rests flush on the shelf board? With a beveled edge, it won’t do that. I used my Kreg Jig to drill some pocket holes across the back of the cabinet door. I prefer for the shelf to have a slight overhang on either side of the cabinet door. After cutting your shelf board, knock off the rough edges with your sandpaper.

If your cabinet door has a beveled edge

Time to paint

Can you believe I cranked out four cabinet door coat rack shelves quickly? I started painting them all upside down on their shelf, like the picture above with the finish max. I was able to get coverage in most of the places. Of course I used my DIY chalky paint primer mixed with Behr Beluga Semi-Gloss from Home Depot.

I set them on some scrap 2×2’s for their next coat of primer. The cabinet door that is almost naked is a little different. The shelf is made from a piece of crown molding instead of a 1×4. It wouldn’t rest upside down on it’s shelf.

If your cabinet door is too thin for hooks

After I finished painting the cabinet doors, I realized that several of them were too thin to accept the screws that were needed to hold the coat rack hooks. I ripped some small pieces of underlayment to size and glued them in place with Gorilla Wood glue.

NOTE: you can see how the pocket holes and screws attach the cabinet doors to the shelves.

Add color

Next step…. painting. Ever since I made my first cabinet door coat rack last year, I have loved this look of this dry brushed red paint technique. I dry brushed a tiny bit of Reclaim paint on the cabinet door. I won it several months ago, but this was my first time using it. You can see that dry brushing the bright red paint over the black chalky paint gives the cabinet door a great aged look.

After the paint dried I sealed all the coat racks with some Valspar Wax. It’s not typical wax, but reminds me more of a decoupage type medium. It was easy to work with, and there was no buffing!

I gathered all of my coat rack hooks so I could decide what I wanted on each of my new cabinet door coat racks. All of those in the front in the baggies are hooks I’ve purchased from D. Lawless Hardware. Honestly I believe they have the best prices online.

Install d rings and hooks

I always forget to show how I hang my projects. I buy my d rings online, so much cheaper by the 100 count instead of buying them in small packages at the store. Aren’t you LOVING this color? Maybe it’s just me—I can’t seem to do enough red projects lately.

The hooks from D.Lawless.com come with some monster screws that are too long for the cabinet doors even with the extra underlayment I added. I have a package of screws I picked up from Joey’s booth at the Peddler’s Mall. They are inexpensive, and they have lasted a long, long time. To remedy the fact that they are silver, I used a little bit of black craft paint to touch them up.

Red Cabinet Door Coat Rack

This is the smaller cabinet door coat rack shelf with the piece of crown molding for the shelf. Since it’s smaller, I used different hooks. I also purchased these from D. Lawless Hardware.

Here are the four finished cabinet door coat racks with shelves. The bottom left is dry brushed with the same oops purple I used for the screen door memo board, bottom right is dry brushed with Naval from Heirloom Traditions Chalk Type paint.

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ABOUT GAIL WILSON - A teacher at heart, Gail Wilson relishes the chance not to show off her projects, but to help others find their inner handywoman, step-by-step. Her blog, MyRepurposedLife.com, chronicles her scrap-saving adventures and has been featured on countless DIY magazines and websites, including Women’s Day, Design*Sponge and Apartment Therapy. She is a longtime influencer for both Homeright and Gorrilla Glue. With a tribe of more than 450,000 followers, Gail is inspiring a new generation of DIYers to pick up some tools and get to work.

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Comments

I’m starting a cabinet door chalk board. The firnish is an odd looking white washed medium oak. It’s a factory done finish. How fine should I sand them down? The paint I chose is a really deep red, I’m not really into distressed edges, but would like to try some wax on it do you have a brand I should try? Thanks for your help.

Sanding is a personal preference. You want to at least take the shine off. I prefer using my own diy chalky paint. I’m painting today using satin paint mixed with plaster of paris for the first coat. Satin without plaster of paris for the second coat and Semi-gloss as the final top coat (for a dresser and chest). As far as the chalkboard portion, a light sanding is all you need because the chalkboard paint is very flat. I am also working on a chalkboard today. I use rustoleum chalkboard paint. Today’s application was done with a small foam roller. It’s looking fabulous. I still LOVE making chalkboards! This one is out of an old door. good luck, have fun! gail ps if the cabinet door has ANY grease and/or grime on it, it is a MUST to remove it with a degreaser.

I love your projects! I don’t have a crafty bone in my body, my sister got those genes. Baking is my thing. Do you sell your things? If so, do you take orders? I have been on the hunt for a coat rack for my laundry room. These would definitely fit the bill.

I do sell most of my items. I made a bunch of this kind of coat rack out of cabinet doors so I could make a dent in my cabinet door stash. They are fun to make. I don’t generally ship my items, but I’m up to that if I have something you’d like.

I just had my laundry room renovated. The cabinets in there are white shaker style. I was thinking of a white shaker coat rack with satin nickel hooks, without the shelf. Tell me, if I found a white shaker cabinet door, would I need to do any prep work to it? Or would I just have to screw on the hooks? What are the dimensions of your large cabinet door? If it doesn’t involve any sawing or glueing, I might be able to do it 🙂

I want to hang coats on mine. What do you think of screwing the cabinet door directly into the wall with molly bolts? I love the idea of a vinyl saying. It’s going in my laundry room so it would say something about laundry.

Not only do I love this and all of your projects Gail, but I know how much time and effort it takes to photograph and write detailed tutorials. You are not only talented, but one of the hardest working bloggers out there. Just want you to know that you are appreciated! Featured you at Be Inspired this morning. Thanks so much for sharing!

Your hooks turned out fantastic but I most appreciate the tip on where to get the d Hooks. Noticed the use of the Kreg jig, my boys got me one for my birthday right after you said I had to have one, and I didn’t even ask. Now, I just have to figure out how to use it.

I seem to remember sometime earlier in the year, I was going to make a Christmas gift a month for the family gifts this year! Now… Sept 2, I see these AWESOME COAT HOOKS… and say… WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE? I love these. I’ve been using the kreg jig jr. We bought a few years ago, on all the campering we’ve been doing– and now, I believe I could make some of these gorgeous shelves! You did an excellent job. I like that you painted the screws to match the hook. Remember, in a pinch, an oil base sharpie works too!

i have a small cabinet door sitting in my bedroom waiting for my lazy butt to do something with, and i am glad i didn’t do it up until i saw this, i would have put the shelf on the bottom but it looks way better on the top, and i wouldn’t have thought to do dark paint first but i will now and the red over it is just plum gorgeous thanks gail pinned xx

so happy to inspire you Chris. I hate when I do a project and THEN see it done differently, wishing I could go back in time. It’s happened often. I love priming with black and doing the washes over it. It totally gives the BEST red color ever (in my opinion) 🙂

Ooo, I love these, especially the red! I can picture it with stockings hanging from the hooks for the Holidays! I always see a ton of cabinet doors at the Re-Store and I couldn’t think of what to make with them – this is a great idea! Pinning!

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Hi, there! I’m Gail Wilson, the author and mastermind behind My Repurposed Life. I’m obsessed with finding potential in unexpected places and believe that with a little hard work and imagination, any old thing can be made useful again—myself included! I hope you’ll enjoy the journey and pick up a few tools along the way… literally! Read More

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